Magnolia Magnificence!

Wow, what an incredible feeling of triumph! I knuckled down with a good movie on tv (Hallmark) and and just began to work. I finished the rest of the piecing with the right colors where they belonged and it looked so good. That encouragement pushed me on the the ripping out part with enthusiam and inch by inch it began to glow with rightness! Just look-I have to layer it and quilt it to finish it but you can see it is going to be all I had hoped.

There is a single piece that is still wrong-see if you can hunt it out. I ripped out and re-sewed it twice and both times I grabbed the wrong fabric--I gave up and resigned myself to having an imperfect piece like the Amish sew into their quilts-to acknowledge that only God is perfect in His creations-I certainly acknowledge that but now it is going to forever proclaim that in this quilt, too!

We have a magnificent magnolia tree in the front yard-what a nice way to bring its presence into the house! When I bought the pattern, I didn't know that some day I would reside with such a beauty within my borders.....

STALLED

What can set a blogger on the stall mode? Usually it is a project stall and in my case it is a major error which has stalled this project. I was happily sewing on this quilt that had intimidated me for a few years and feeling pretty good about the progress......it feels slow while I am piecing but as I set the sections on the bed to get the whole effect it is encouraging! Listening to a book on cd and sewing and enjoying a visit from the cats and DH just makes the hours roll by perfectly.

Day 2 is more of the same and it is so good until THE MOMENT strikes my awareness and I go cold---the faithful key to keep me on track of all the colors that I have been using causes a stumble in the smooth going...why do I have a sick feeling? Oh, no----YES! I have made a mistake in the B fabric--who thought of B for background and BO for border? Do you see how far I have gotten with the paper piecing using BO instead of B--I counted 20 pieces! Can I ignore it and make all the border and background the same-yeah, that lame thought lasts about a second and even then I am disgusted with myself.

Breathe deeply, pick up all the pieces. Pile them neatly on the table, pick up the floor, call your daughter and whine to the answering machine, turn off all the lights and walk away.

Leave the project alone and don't sew for 2 days.

Spin.

Knit.

Don't think about it.

Clean the house.

Go into the sewing room and rip out all the 20 pieces and put it back together the right way-what are you sitting here for and putting it off.

I will triumph.

And you will see it!

Kids and Kids and a Deere

Isn't it appealing to see baby animals with children-they sure do attract each other! Gratefully our neighbor is willing to give tours to our friends and family!

And speaking of attractions............it must be the color! While my daughter is here for a visit, we are able to connect with a former NewYorker who is also a southern girl now, Jessica Stewart Wandtke, and her four wonderful boys...thanks for the visit Jessa!

Mystery Batts

Here is a fun project that is new to me. These squares of fluff contain all kinds of unnamed fibers like angora, mohair, llama, alpaca, sheep wools and angelina fibers(sparklies!) that you spin up into a fun yarn. I am surprised how soft it worked up-no, I don't know what it will be yet! I spun the blue and the green seperately and then plied them together on a high ratio on my Joy wheel, but plied it pretty quickly so it would not be tight and lose the fluffiness of the fiber mix. It is a worsted weight yarn now-don't hesitate to give yourself a treat and try it!

Abigail's Quilt

Finished Abigail's quilt in time for her visit this weekend! It is a medley of fat quarter Beatrix Potter prints from Keepsake Quilting. Abigail is a great fan of her books and of the dvd's so this will be like snuggling up with a bunch of friends! The quilt is 40" x 40" made of 25 8" blocks-truly fun and even when I figured wrong :'( and was a little piece short--I scanned the piece I needed and printed it off on computer fabric and voila! No problem! Will save that thought for any future dilemnas. Okay, I am ready-come on and visit Abigail!

Wrist Warmer Wools

This is the hand-dyed, hand spun wool yarn I won from Kathy Costello, aka

Knittin' Cacher. It was interesting to think about as I knit this that up-she spun it in AZ, I knit it in FL and I am mailing it to my daughter-in-law who lives in WA-they have already had the temperatures to warrant its use! BTW, said DIL also learned how to knit when she visited me last summer in NY and we continue to share the activity by phone!

Isn't it great fun to have fiber friends!

Hey! I finally figured out how to chart the lace portion of this project!

Here is the directions for the Wrist Warmers-especially for Krystle and Kathy!!

Fingerless Gloves
Size 5 straight needles Worsted weight yarn To fit Ladies medium
WRIST-
CO 40 sts
RIB at Wrist:
K1 p1 for 1 ½ - 2”
HAND-
*Row 1 of chart is last row of the ribbing on the right side, row 2 is the wrong side of glove*
Continue pattern as directed on chart A ; repeat pattern across for the 40 sts of glove:

THUMB-
K1 p1 for 1 ½ ”
K1 p1 across 16sts, bind off 8 sts, k1 p1 to end of row.
Wrong side row; K1 p1 across 16 sts, co on 8 sts, k1 p1 to end of row.
Continue in k1 p1 for another 1 ½ - 2”.
Loosely bind off all 40 sts.
Cut yarn leaving enough to sew up side seam.
Repeat for second glove.

KEY

Friday Under the Lights

Big stuff down here-I have seen more High School football in the last 2 months than in the rest of my life!~ It has been fun to go and root for the home team and the 2 seniors that are in our church family. They are credited with participation in just about every play--and the home team is undefeated this season so it is very exciting. The weather is warmer than any other football game I have gone to also! (I am knitting the yarn I won on "Knittin' Cacher" 's blog!)

Beach Bums

Everyone has a little corner of their being that would like to be a beach bum albeit for only a day or two.......we have fulfilled that ambition by staying with friends at Cocoa Beach for a few days! Okay, it is in their condo and we had all the amenities of one far from the budget of a beach bum but we will not linger over the petty details! Collecting shells in the surf is a favorite pastime; as evidence here>

We arose in time

for a

magnificent sunrise

.........additional words are superfluous!

The men fished in the surf and we brought along

our knitting and crocheting as we enjoyed their triumphs with poles -

A good time was had by all.............

A Visit to Autumn

Spent

good part

of the last

week with

daughter

and family.

Went up to

the

mountains

of GA and visited an annual tradition with them, Burt's Farm.

It is wonderful to be able to go and share a slice of their life.

David is flourishing in homeschool and Abigail has grown so much-she talks in full sentences all the time now and has become quite her own person-and she sings lovely hymns of faith.........

Did some knitting while travelling up and back but mostly enjoyed the ride and held my Tom(cat)...he travels well but doesn't really enjoy it. Bling(cat 2) doesn't enjoy the ride and asks if we are there yet every few minutes! Fifi (dog) is just glad that we didn't forget her! Glad to be home and savor our less colorful but still well-defined change of season here in NE FL.

Leftovers?!

This has been a fun few days using up all the leftover sock yarn--it is a delight to the eyes, isn't it?

Maybe I should have titled this 'ankles and wrists'. The orange and teal wristlets have been simmering in me for a long time, since I saw an example of 2 color work in SpinOff magazine using 2 opposing colorways--it was as satisfying as I had hoped! I do not think I am done with the experiment and can already see some more lovelies in the works!

Trusty Assistant

See who keeps me

company? This is Bling (named for his golden color and his love of anything shiny). He likes to be on whatever I am doing-I am accommodating ; I was still working on the other end of this quilt piecing the rows together and I didn't bother him at all! Who needs to wait for a quilt to be finished to appreciate it?

End and Begin

I finished my socks for the Favorite Socks KAL while sitting and watching the 'workermans' put in our new driveway. This is another superwash that I dyed and spun. It is a good day when you get to finish something and it is always fun to start something new-I am going back out to watch and do some spinning. I received some lovely samples from Michele at Juniper-Designs and will enjoy spinning them!

Bill is laying new

under-

ground

conduit for

the

electric service

to be

run to the

addition

and to replace our old above ground.

It is so good to be making progress!

Spinnin' Finn

I have tried a new fiber and I love it! It is wool from a Finn sheep, very long fibers with a nice sheen so the finished yarn has a luster! The fiber spread out is to show you how I separate it before I spin it. I split the whole roving into 2 equal parts and put one away-this will be the second skein. I then split the remaining roving into 2 equal parts and set one aside for the second bobbin. The remaining section I separate into 6 parts along the length of the roving this time and wind them into little nests-these will be spun onto the first bobbin. I pick up a fluff ball and gently pull the fiber apart (called predrafting) to make it thinner and much longer-at least twice as long as the little nest was previously. Now, I spin! See my breathing slow, see my hands and feet work into a perfect rhthym that will transform this fluff into yarn-truly an amazing art.

Give it a try if you ever have the opportunity to-don't miss the chance due to any excuse!

Big and Little

This is what I have been building lately-this pieced top will be a wall hanging. I used a computer printed image on fabric--completely different than anything I have tried before. It is very free form and it was hard not to be in the 'exact points match etc' mode but it was also very liberating!

The bed size quilt is not sewn together yet, I just finished piecing the blocks last night. It is a fat quarter kit that is beautiful Batiks and was easy to piece with dramatic results! Even DH says, "Wow!" I am also knitting up the blue wool into socks in the evening; I had many false starts with this pattern from the Favorite Socks Knit-a-long....it has been very good to stretch my comfort zone in knitting and quilting-change can be good when you are ready for it.........!

GARDEN BLISS

Good friend, Becki, always sends us away after a visit with a carload of plants-she has a very green thumb............so far we have been accumulating the plants in pots and harboring them at the side of the house until we could think of a safe place for them with the construction ahead. This week we decided to give some of them a home in the only area we are pretty sure will be safe for a while-our driveway 'island' (the driveway loops around this area).

It has been fun to plant and help the area that once was flourishing to be restored to lush growth-now we are talking about future lush 'cuz every gardener also has to have vision and as we plant, we see not the single stalk before us but the huge, full, green shrub that it will be! We only work for a few hours in the morning while in the shade and before the sun gets to full baking strength!


And a very patient plant, my
Mother's Day Hibiscus
from the McKees has finally
been planted and is happy-
I can tell 'cuz it is still blooming ...............since May! Just beautiful! Thank you one and all.

Spinnin' and Thinnin''

The super heat of summer has broken and it is nice to be outside working in the yard again! (Isn't it funny to be calling 90 'cool again!') I have been dyeing some superwash wool roving and then spinning it for the past week-I will begin knitting tomorrow as soon as the wool dries-it is the finest sock yarn I have spun yet. (This is not refering to the quality but rather to the thinness of the yarn for you non-knitters!) I was hoping for a little more dimension in the color but it is still a pretty navy color-I am hoping some of the variations of tone will show up when knitting. New skills require a definite learning curve. I know enough to be patient with myself and the fact that nothing is 'ruined' in the process sure does help!

Bamboo Socks

Waving Lace is Finally finished! It has been a challenge for some reason-- You would never guess the rip-outs on this one! I really needed to be focused and alone when I knit these. I did watch and old movie and manage to crank away to get the second one done. As always, it is worth it when you see the end results. I made these pretty much as directed by the pattern instructions. The yarn is Step by Austermann in greens. It is a superwash that is made with aloe and jojoba oil in the yarn for a beauty treatment for your feet-will let you know how it holds up!

Road Blocks

Where have I been............in rip-out realms.........it has been very frustrating!

I can usually knit anywhere, anytime but that did not work for this second sock of waving lace pattern! The pattern is wonderful, the yarn is delightful in color and feel, the brain and fingers are not focused and it shows. I knit this while in the car and was doing the lace pattern from memory and I am no longer as good at hearing and thinking at the same time anymore.......most of the sock I ripped out was done on an hour and half car trip and then when visiting. It didn't work, okay. I will sit in near silence tonight and knit and hopefully regain the lost and lost-again rows.

An update on my namesake goat-she is doing wonderfully and has been upgraded from the nursery stall with her mom into the herd! She looks so cute and energetic--I am secretly marking her for some good spinning fluff next year!

Nursery Kids

I have been at my neighbors most of the week helping out with their orphaned Boer goat kids. They rescued a herd of maltreated goats-31 -and the stress of the move induced several malnourished moms to give birth. Most of them and a few kids didn't make it but the little ones that did needed bottle feeding! What fun! What work! This one is my namesake-now that is an honor! (Yeah, the fact she is willful and stubborn had nothing to do with the inspiration!)

Second One is Faster

Finished the second sock-aren't they enough to brighten your spirits! They feel delicious to wear...the lace pattern for this pair is from Favorite Socks, it is called the Anniversary Sock which is a very elegant city looking sock and mine are definitely the casual cousin!